six >> mark: a.m., the latest out of japan forcing japan's workers to evacuate the power plant. the steps being taken to get them back in. >> darya: travelers are anxious to get out of japan amid fears of reactioradiation contaminati >> mark: the new killer crisis in japan is our top story at 6:00 a.m. >> darya: we are going attack the latest in japan in just one minute. >> mark: first and early check gone bay area weather. >> james: those rainshowers seem to be pushing off at this point. we are not seeing a lot in the

area of rain. 680 north of martinez looks like it may be getting rain. walnut creek expecting showers momentarily. otherwise they will taper off, but it won't last long. more heavier rain said it not for friday much more coming up in a bit. >> erica: crosstown freeways no problems here, but i might have bought spot for the moral saw a tall you wear street dead. >> mark: the team that has been working to prevent a meltdown in the new fuel plant is getting ready to go back into the plant to try and cool the reactor spirit they were evacuated today. more smoke is rising from the plant. workers had no choice

but to pull back when the radiation got too high. engineers as a last resort have them pumping seawater and to try and keep the fuel rods from overheating. new photos new areola real photos. people are trying to flee the country as the fear of radiation escalates. this is a tokyo airport. some airports have been testing people for radiation. >> darya: scientists are paying close attention to what is unfolding in japan. that includes uc-berkeley. we spoke with this officer about the necessary cautions people should take. the overall threat posed

by an acute problem in japan. >> i don't think there will be a need to do anything. like taking the potassium iodide pills appeared i think the rest of potassium iodine is thgreater tn the rest of radiation. please consult your doctor. as we can tell from past experiences. we have never had that kind of level of radiation if you have sufficient distance. i think we will see a turning point at the end of the week. either good way or but white.halt at a bad way.s

weekend if they are still working on cooling down things, it will be more difficult situation. >> darya: so that's what the benchmark is accurate if we tell you by the weekend they are still working on cooling down the reactors. cal is also monitoring radiation levels locally looking for any changes in the bay area. >> reporter: according to officials tests have found traces of radiation 50 mi. from japan's damaged navicular plant. these traces are connected with the plant that is having severe problems with this small town that could possibly happen. more test throughout the day today, the levels they found now are not harmful to the human body. we will falfollow the latest to

>> darya:. 9.0 quake and tsunami the death toll is nearing 3700. but that could actually be just a fraction of the actual number, they are thinking it is closer to 12,000. when you consider all of the missing people as well. a new aftershock of 6.0 has rattled north east japan. his tea59 mi. from tokyo. comine will have livhave a live intervw from santa cruz. at 6:45 a.m. a

list of power plants that are here in the united states that are most susceptible to damage in the event of an earthquake. it might surprise you were the california plants are. >> mark: stock futures slightly higher this morning the dow took a beating yesterday it closed down 138. our rebound on the japan stocks today, it closed up 5.7%. japan's central bank flooding more money into the markets with cash they put the emergency funding in totaling over $300 billion. economic reports u.s. businesses sold more industrial supplies in the final three months of last year. that pushed the deficit to the broadest measure of foreign

trade to los colinear. the bailout of banks and on lawmakers to help prevent a crisis but may have sowed the seeds of the next economic crisis. >> darya: everyone seems to be getting wet today james? >> james: all the wet areas in the north pretty much gone now. we are only seeing rain along the 680, sliding it further we see the stretch of 24 near what muckrake and the caldecott cut total getting light rain right now. over the peninsula maybe some shower activity along 2 80 as you make your way along that corridor. other than that shower activity will stay sporadic and light through the morning. at noon scattered precipitation, by

your afternoon ride things will look dry, staying dry overnight into tomorrow. thursday looks good for the most part but then we start to slow things up and get things wet as we head into thursday evening in friday. mid to low 50s right now, that cold air in the pacific will fuel that storm system on friday. we will let you know what we expect in terms of rainfall the closer we get to it. >> erica: among the brink of declaring this hotspot westbound 580, to car accident with minor injuries. speeds actually are not too bad looking at 30 mi. an hour, slowing go conditions for your ride out of tracy and along the altamont pass. so traffic around the bay area alive look westbound 80, headed towards a maze those taillights to no

major slowdowns because no accidents or incidents to report. once you reach the bay bridge itself nice and easy conditions from all three approaches. you will have to contend with standing water in a cash lanes. other than that no problems to report. the time right now 6:09 a.m. back

>> darya: we are seeing people wake up but it is still light at the bay bridge. right now it is 54 degrees and a little bit wet. a high of 61 this afternoon. >> mark: they could decide today how to sanction pg&e the wake of

the explosion and fire and missing key records. they may require time-consuming tests. this comes after they failed to our provide a person of the record included records from the san bruno segment. they will be replacing 150 mi. of pipelines. we will be back as the news continues right [ ryan ] i got this new citi thankyou card

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>> mark: new video out of japan people running for their lives from the tsunami. it picks up all the homes and debris, these people picking up belongings as

the way it approaches sweeping across the area. then you see the cars and home slip away. officials say 3700 people have died from the tsunami officially, 8000 are still missing. when you put the totals together 12,000 people dead or missing from the quake. >> darya: we continue to attract the cleanup at the harbour which got the surges from the tsunami. they are hauling up boats and debris. >> craig: these are four of the eight boats that have been taken down of the water. our reminder of how damaging these wave to work. it is considered a total loss 30 votes confirmed sunday. -- 13 boat--she ma was assessing

the damage to give report to see if it will declare this a disaster area. a similar tour took place in crescent city, other sites in california are being looked at. one thing about the boats the ones under water have fuel tanks, they are leaking into the harbors. they watch the boats out of the water is soon as possible. it will take three out today between now and sunday the hubble will remain closed. there is no choice it is too dangerous in the waters there. >> darya: 82. >> mark: alameda and the port of oakland received the brunt of the damage. what worries them is

the corruption of the abductions of. waves from the area could threaten oakland because it sits at the end of the golden gate steep channel. add to that the greatest number of at prescript structures are located there. >> darya: we want a get a look at the weather, we have been through it this morning, got heavy rain but everybody's getting a break now. >> james: let's take a quick look here at your storm tracker for imagery. we have rain hit or miss all morning long. you'll be like that into the afternoon. we see it falling heaviest in vallejo, even 680 between the nation bridg680. the deal with s

it has been steady, which sought all night into the morning hours. here we are still dealing with the this morning. to the south we really haven't seen it all whole lot of rain, we are still fairly clear. the peninsula maybe you got some light rain near redwood city but said the moon that pretty clear ride for use to make your way north and south their on those are real spirit not a lot of rain to redress the morning. future cast 4 set for a day and light showers to the north bay, by noon scattered showers bay area wide. by 4:00 p.m. clears out nicely your evening ride looks ok. into tomorrow morning is still looks relatively clear. that is the forecast for the next 24 hours. rain tapering off them we drag out this

evening. temperatures low to mid-50s warming to the upper fifties and low 60s. watching the colder and the pacific that will be the whether maker for us come friday. his 70 forecast has friday are next big whether day. it will drop are snow levels down possibly down to 3,000 ft.. for less than showers heavy on friday, to be written off for the remainder of the weekend. let's find out about your ride. >> erica: we have a hot spot in the westbound direction of 580. this is approaching livermore we have a multi vehicle crash involving multi injuries. it looks like one of the cars maybe still blocking lanes. at last check we saw back up with speeds at 40 mi. an hour, now

we're down to 21. no other hot spots are slow spots to tell you about around the bay area. the approach to the bay bridge toll plaza traffic moves well from all three approaches. picking up another camera for you conditions are good here on the bayshore freeway of 1 01 in the northbound direction. and looks to be missed the out there but traffic is still falling freely despite the wet roads. >> mark: santa cruz police have arrested a man suspected in the 20008 rate. the arrest of a man suspected of raping a woman at a santa cruz coffee shop three years ago. elvis lorenzo garcia, 21, of santa cruz, was arrested friday. he faces eight felony charges including kidnapping, robbery and sexual assault with enhancements. the arrest was the result of an investigation into the sexual assault of a 23-year- old barista at the kind grind coffee shop on east cliff drive on march 19, 2008. crime scene dna is compared to the dna of convicted offenders. he is expected to enter a plea on march 29. if convicted of all charges, he faces life in prison.

an animal research technician charged with killing a yale university graduate student annie le is expected to change his plea.senior assistant public defender beth a. merkin said tuesday afternoon that raymond clark iii will change his not- guilty plea at a scheduled hearing thursday in superior court. raymond clark iii is accused of strangling 24-year- old annie le, of placerville, calif., in september, five days before her planned wedding.clark, 24, has been jailed in lieu of $3 million bail on the murder charge.le's body was found stuffed behind a research lab wall in september on the day she was supposed to get married on long island.an autopsy concluded she was strangled. >> darya: we will be back with more of a couple of minutes. alive look at the golden gate bridge. more people are waking up so we have heavier traffic at the bridge. we also know because of the wet road ways, we are looking at delays of 15 minutes to rivals at sfo right now.

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>> mark: showers tapering off by

the afternoon best they should be thursday, heavy rain and heavier storm friday, a chance of our sunday and monday. >> darya: senators will vote on governor brown's plan to close the budget deficit includes cutting 12 1/2 billion dollars in spending, extending a temporary increase in taxes, to republicans are needed in the senate and republic to reach the majority to place this on the ballot. a new poll shows if we got the chance to vote the voters do like brown's plan. 58 percent said they support extending the taxes. 43 percent said they would pay higher taxes to raise the deficit. it surveyed 898 registered voters. >> mark: we will be right back coming up in two minutes we will

have the opening bell on wall street. will today be a turnaround day? we will watch the latest.

>> mark: opening bell on wall street here. we did see a rebound in japan, we will follow the latest in bring you the numbers through the day to see if it is a rebound gate as bargain hunters bought up stocks. dow futures turned slightly positive before the opening bell. >> darya: new details in japan, 180 workers that were evacuated from the plant because of dangerous radiation levels, they are preparing to return. levels have gone down the workers had been tried to prevent a

meltdown following three explosions and fire at the plant. south of the plant radiation levels were 300 times normal level which is not fatal but can help the if you're exposed to that level for long period of time. as a concern to grow, how smackeroos screen people near the plant to keep track of things. in the rare television appearance, you can see here the emperor is telling citizens today to not give up hope. this is a televised address. they he says japan is going through the worst crisis since world war two. this is the first time an emperor has directly appeal to people over tv. >> mark: concern over radiation remains high, radiologist as

particles from the plant will get into the air around the world. >> we will at some point measure, very low levels of radiation from the japanese disaster somewhere on american soil. the punch line is, whatever dust gets into the atmosphere, it eventually makes it way all or on the world. if it's a volcano in the philippines, nuclear disaster at chernobyl, a test in the pacific, that radioactivity will be detectable. we have to remember our instrumentation is sensitive and can measure radiation that has no consequence to human health or

the individual medical situation of a person. >> mark: stores report are run on certain that patients that could help in the fall of situation. store managers say they are fall selling out of potassium iodine. this was the scene yesterday with empty spots on the shops where the potassium and iodine used to be. we have posted a like on our web site you can see what it does to the body and a list of people who should not take it. that's our web site. >> darya: let's get a look at the weather, it is changing this morning. james is keeping a track of it. >> james: conditions are slowly improving, particularly if you're not looking for to driving in the rain. we had scourescattered showers this mog

but that will disappear this afternoon. we will have the cloudy but dry overnight hours into tomorrow. let's look at where the rain is falling right now. heavier rains to the north right along 1 01 earlier, but they have shifted to the east. light rain along highway 4, down in clayton you might see a light rain now as well. this is still very light stuff. dublin as you headed to castro valley you may be running into a sprinkle or two. san jose relatively clear, you may have some rain working its way along the san mateo bridge making its way towards the nimitz freeway. keep an eye on that if you're headed out the door. it will be there long it

is quick moving. here's where we expect temperatures this afternoon 59 degrees in san francisco, 59 hayward, los 60s in oakland, mid-60s for fremont and san jose. we are watching the pacific we have cold air out there. that cold air will mix with some moisture over the pacific bringing with it some intent showers for friday. we talk about that with the seven day. we will see heavy snow in the sierra as a result of it. a lot of snow in fact enough we have talked winter weather advisory in effect until 5:00 p.m. today. best thing wins 50 mi. an hour, 8 in. above 5,000 ft., 16 in. above 7000. bring

your chains you will need them. right now let's get a check on your ride. >> erica: we have a are on lay on this hot spot of 580. malty vehicle accident involving injuries. chp are still on the scene, this has been cleared out of the traffic lanes. no lanes blocked but speeds are worsening 16 mi. an hour some of the slower spots. if you are coming out of tracy along the altamont pass this morning, expect delays. in san francisco crosstown freeways looks good. 1 01-80 split traffic looking good no accidents or incidents to report. if you want a get around bay area traffic altogether heading to the sierra we have a chain requirements and the fact

along 80. also highway 50, and highway 88. >> darya: 6:37 a.m. we will be back with more a couple of minutes. let's get a peek at the san mateo bridge. you can't see too much looks like it's running pretty good. [ banker ] when ashley's violin teacher told her parents she was gifted,

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we started saving for this music camp in vermont. so i told them about some of the wells fargo online savings tools like my savings plan, which helps them set up and monitor a savings goal. until we found out that maybe her teacher uses certain terms a little bit loosely. rebecca is clearly very gifted. [ banker ] we decided to roll that money into ashley's college account. turns out there's seven gifted kids in ashley's class of nine. [ male announcer ] wells fargo. with you when it's time to save. ♪ >> mark: live look at storm trucker for, we still see scattered showers. looking for fog and scattered showers for the morning hours. >> darya: 125 million gal. of sewage have spilled into the bay since october. a federal court is ordering seven east bay utilities to install costly upgrades to prevent sewage from leaking into the bay.the court order says oakland, emeryville,

berkeley, alameda, albany, piedmont, and stege utility districts must make substantial improvements in infrastructure to stop the sewage leaks. officials say the seven districts have spilled nearly 125 million gallons of raw and partially treated sewage into the bay just since october. the u.s. epa, san francisco baykeeper, and several other environmental organizations asked the court to get involved to prevent more spills. a lawyer for six people argued it deprives them of their voting rights. they took the case under submission and has no deadline for issuing a ruling. the right to choice system was in effect in 2004. four last fall they used a similar system. it's where you put the first, second, third choices on one ballot rather than choosing one candidate. >> mark: if you wonder how safe

the body image in use that airport to our so are gsa. recent reports show the radiation could be 10 times higher than what is being reported they will look at calculation discrepancies. experts say the body scanner exposes them to the same level of radiation as 15 seconds of flying. president barack obama approval rating dropping to 50% it shows he is losing ground on key voting groups. they say he 44 have confidence in the president, 46 say his views are too liberal, 12 percent say he is not liberal enough. >> darya: we will be back with

more a couple minutes.

>> reporter: toyota said it will not resume production at the plant for another week in japan. they can start making parts for vehicles in japan thursday. this information coming from the toyota's web site. it is struggling to restart production amid a shortage of parts and of course workers. most of u.s. old cars are built in america so americans should not see a shortage. some of the fue >> darya: the crisis in japan one of the big stories we're following at this hour. workers at the plant in japan are preparing now to re-enter, we just learned japan has actually

raised the maximum radiation dose allowed for workers. meantime the military sent to fire trucks dealt with fires at one of the plants. the pentagon says it has not been asked to use troops for the developing crisis >> mark: senators are expected to vote on jerry brown's proposal to close the state's budget deficit. governor brown plan includes wall and a half billion dollars andin spending. it's not clear if the governor has enough votes to get that on the ballot. >> darya: they could decide today how to sanction pg&e in the wake of the san bruno explosion, among the options fines and requiring time- consuming tests on pg&e is transmission lines that run

through some of the state's most populated areas. this comes us. they picked failed to provide a person of the records including, those on the san bruno segment of the line exploded in september. >> james: we all watching the weather, keeping an eye on the sky. all live look of the san mateo bridge you can see some rain falling in this view right now. scattered showers in the mix this morning tapering off, trying things out by 3:00 p.m., setting ourselves up for much heavier rain coming on friday. right now storm tracker for in showing us the rain falling. that very to find line all the way into vallejo, we will see where we see the heaviest rainfall. over highway 4 near antioch looks like it is breaking up. we saw a cell over dublin pushing off to union

city, fremont we see light shower activity there as well. further south as we take a look at palo alto and sunnyvale light rain is falling down. this is tracking to the east. if you are in milpitas expected to head this way. again we are not talking about major rain but we are making them morning commute a bit of a headache for you. we of calling this light scattered showers activity for noontime future cast 4 had showers for you. as you make your home in the evening things calmed down quite a bit in terms of rain activity. it won't be until thursday night, friday we will see more rain. this is where the temperatures will go this afternoon 58 san rosa, 61 oakland, mid to low 60s in the south bay, mid to low 60s in the

east bay as well. as we talked about all morning long we are looking at the pacific cold air will mix with the pacific moisture really coming at s strong on friday. mix of rain, possible sale, there will be thunder and lightning that's how intense it is expected to be. that cool air really dropping temperatures down as well. we will hold on to showers over the weekend to build with the umbrella way. the time now 6:50 a.m. let's go traffic. >> erica: better news we have been following the aftermath of a multi vehicle accident a couple of lanes were blocked. speeds are certainly improving up to about 40 mi. per hour in some of the slower spots. that yellow and red on there as you make your way into livermore, which passed livermore we are

seeing speeds and to the green at about 50 mi. an hour. metering lights were cycled on about half an hour ago, a modest back up in the cash lanes for you westbound ride. and accidents or incidents to report here. checking out the golden gate bridge southbound 101 heavier than last check. >> darya: 6:51 a.m. a power plant perched on the edge of the pacific ocean in san diego county, is a concern for some. the people that live around here say they are not worried. servers and others are pretty confident that the facility is not pose a health care safety threat. the scrutiny coming after thwhat is going on in jap. the plant's operator is confident this power plant is ready to withstand earthquakes.

>> not only to do with a potential 7.0 which is what his starkly they have looked at with the data. 0.67 ground acceleration event here. it is well above the standards of what would be maximum possible based on the scientific. we are confident in the infrastructure we have a place. >> darya: what he referred to is built walls 25 ft. high tsunami wall to ward off the giant waves that could be triggered by an earthquake. >> mark: if you're wondering about the odds of a ne nuclear problem here.

there is the one in 74,000 chance accord could be damaged by an earthquake. the regulatory commission ranking the sites with the highest risk. reactor at indian point in buchanan new york up the hudson river is most at risk with one in 10,000 chance. the closest plant is the diablo powerplant that came in ninth in not one in 24,000 chance. the power plant has a twin reactors. we will be right back to kron 4 morning news continues after the break. all live look from mt. tam we're windy but we are seeing san francisco from 2,500 ft..

>> darya: alive look in the south bay, traffic looks like it is moving ok. not too much of all hold up their road are wet but the rain has backed off. >> mark: watching wall street another down day. down 53, it was down over 70 points. still concerns about what's happening in japan. we had poor economic news as new home construction fell to the second lowest low on record in february. news will be back into minutes. here's a story we are watching in the news room right now. a hearing under way one of the main topics is nuclear safety in the united states following the japan

crisis.